Many fluids, such as for example, natural gas or other gases are metered in a variety of different manners. Additionally, there are a variety of different providers of fluids, such as natural gas that employ a plurality of main pipelines to deliver fluids to end users. In order to measure the amount of the fluids that are delivered to individual end users, the providers use meters at the end user's facility. Such meters are well known in the art.
However, a variety of problems exist when the providers determine that the meters require servicing or replacement. When a provider services or replaces a meter, typically, the supply of the fluid to the end user is stopped. However, the end users do not want the supply of the fluid to stop, even if just momentarily. In part, this is because appliances and other devices requiring fluids, such as natural gas, have pilot burners that continuously run to serve as an ignition source for the appliance. If the pilot burner were to be starved of gas, the burner would go out. Subsequently, when the gas service is restored, the pilot burner would have to be re-ignited to operate.
Therefore, a variety of bypass systems have been developed to supply fluid to an end user when the providers service or replace a fluid meter. However, these bypass systems have problems as well.
For example, as many of the bypass systems are temporary, they sometimes limit the supply of fluids and therefore can starve some of the devices. As devices are starved of the required fluids, the device may become inoperable or damaged from the limited flow.
Additionally, many of the bypass systems have a variety of external components that must be installed prior to bypassing the meters. For example, an auxiliary port may be included on the meter bar which requires the use of external flow paths to bypass the location of the meter. These external components sometimes must be brought to the site by the service technician. Additionally, some bypass systems are bulky and can get in the way as the meter is serviced.